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Police are looking for a man who attempted to kidnap a woman as she was walking home alone in Berkeley on Friday night.

The 23-year-old Berkeley woman was walking along San Pablo Avenue around 10:20 p.m. when she noticed a man who appeared to be following her, Officer Jennifer Coats said.

He continued to walk behind her, even as she changed her route numerous times, Coats said.

As the woman pulled out her cellphone to call for help, the man suddenly grabbed her and forced her off the sidewalk and down a driveway in the 1200 block of San Pablo Avenue, according to Coats.

The woman clutched her purse and screamed for help as the man grabbed her waist and spoke to her in Spanish, she said.

A passing motorist saw the distressed woman, stopped and honked. The man released the woman and fled north on San Pablo Avenue, Coats said.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic man about 23 to 25 years old and 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a thin build and some facial hair. He was wearing a white-and-red San Francisco 49ers baseball-style cap, a black hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and black-and-red tennis shoes.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Berkeley police Detective Melissa Kelly at (510) 981-5735.